Five French diving experts will be flying to Malta tomorrow to search for their friend Alain Bellini, the diving instructor who went missing in Gozo last Thursday.
The official search for the 44-year-old Frenchman stopped on Sunday evening but his wife and family cannot rest until they have his body back.
"I keep clinging to the shred of hope that he could be stuck in a cave with air, even though deep down I know I've got no chance of seeing him alive. However, we need to know what happened to go on living; we need closure," his wife, Valerie, told The Times yesterday.
Mr Bellini's friends and former colleagues from the Cave Diving Emergency Camp, in France, feel the same way and they have decided to pack their bags in a last-ditch attempt to find him or retrieve his body.
"I really hope they manage to yield something," she said.
Mrs Bellini met her husband three years ago when she attended a diving lesson in France. Having lived in Gozo for three years, 10 years ago, he yearned to return to the island where he could practise his passion. So in March, the Bellini family sold all their belongings and moved to Xlendi from their native Burgundy.
The couple, who have six children from previous marriages, were happily settled in Xlendi's tightly-knit community with her three children and their four-month-old baby daughter.
Mrs Bellini is very grateful for all the help she has received from the locals and she thanked all those who risked their lives to search for her husband, from his diving school to divers, the police and the army.
However, she is distraught by rumours and incorrect media reports that her husband had either run off or that he had gone missing on Wednesday and that the alarm was raised 24 hours late.
She reiterated that Mr Bellini had left home after lunch on Thursday at 1.30 p.m. The plan was that she would meet him at the diving school down the road at 5 p.m. and they would go for a drink.
Mr Bellini then went for a dive at 2.30 p.m. Both the school he worked with, Moby Dives, and his wife, are unaware that he was going off for a technical dive - he never told anyone about his plans; he just said he would be going for a dive in the bay.
When Mrs Bellini showed up at the school at 5 p.m., her husband had not returned and at 5.30 p.m. the divers launched a search, returning to Xlendi Bay at 10.30 p.m. empty-handed.
The search, coordinated by the army and the police continued until Sunday but despite everyone's efforts Mr Bellini has not been found.
"I cannot rest until I have his body," Mrs Bellini said.
Mrs Bellini needs all the help she can get in accommodating and transporting the French divers. Those who wish to help can send an e-mail to bellini@maltanet.net.